Into the Passionate Soul of Subcontinental Cricket
In Karachi's Orangi area, which was another ethnic hot-spot and in the news nearly every day for shoot-outs between rival factions, I stopped to watch a chaotic jumble of cricket games being played near a constriction site. One play area was little more than a wasteland surrounded by rubble and debris, the rough surface littered with planks of wood and piles of stones acting as stumps. As soon as I walked over, everything stopped and the young players gathered around. I could tell that some of the older ones were viewing me with suspicion, which was completely understandable. They probably thought I was a journalist reporting on the ethnic violence in their neighbourhood.
While Cricket, A Kind of Pilgrimage was a photographic account of the four-month journey around the subcontinent, Into the Passionate Soul of Subcontinental Cricket was a travelogue; my written account of the journeys, adventures and characters in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka who told their story of the passion for cricket in south Asia. The journey was always unpredictable. One week it was attempting to reach Jaffna, Tamil Tiger territory in northern Sri Lanka to see how cricket was surviving in a war zone. One day it was a tour around the slums of Karachi during civil unrest to see talented young fast bowlers playing on concrete next to a rubbish tip. And every day there were everyday local people who loved the game and played it in spite of - or perhaps because of - financial hardships.